Sunday, July 13, 2008

jonas weekend, part 1

well, i survived day 1 of the jonas brothers concert extravaganza. these were our shittiest seats of the 3 shows, considering that this venue is larger than honda center. i kept having to remind myself that i didn't need to get a crapload of pictures, since they were all coming out blurry and sad and we had two more shows to see. heh.

the girls busted out custom-made posters and tees that they'd slaved over for hours for two days straight, decorated themselves AND my car (much to the hub's dismay), and then we were off.

as we headed down the freeway, blissfully traffic-free, the teen hooked up her iPod and it was all jonas, all the time. the girls basked in the attention from other cars as folks craned their necks to read all the crap that was written on our windows, and i couldn't help but giggle at their excitement.

at one point, a car next to us caught up and kept pace with us, which usually kind of skeeves me out, but the teen let out a squeal and began frantically waving and cheering. the rear window of the car rolled down to reveal one of her friends from school, who was also on her way to the concert. apparently, she'd recognized my car and sawn the teen's name on the rear window and asked her mom to catch up. ha!

we finally got to our exit - a full hour and 15 minutes before the show was scheduled to start - and i found myself yawning. luckily, i found something to help with that.

the teen's friends and i were laughing at her antics, and i commented that the LAST thing she needed was caffeine. oh, well.

as we got closer to the venue, i was surprised to see that general parking was actually free. but i'm never one to park in "general" parking, so i coughed up the cash and parked in the preferred lot.

after parking, leaving, and then a few minutes returning to retrieve the posters from the trunk, we headed towards the entrance, passing one of the jonas brothers' tour buses along the way. they encourage their fans to leave notes and take pictures in front of it, and since they'd forgotten to bring something to write with, they settled for jockeying for position and posing for a photo instead.

when we got near the entrance, we were dumbfounded at the ridiculously long line we had to get into first. seriously, it took us a solid ten minutes just to get to the end of it - way at the other end of the ginormous parking lot. although it gave us a chance to chat and do some peoplewatching, marveling (and not in a good way) over the outfits some chicks were wearing. wow.

as i paused to have my bag half-assedly inspected, the girls noticed something...odd.

yup. they were confiscating all of the posters, telling the fans that they would be at the exit after the show and that they could get them back as they left. the girls were beside themselves - remember, they'd worked on these things for hours - and the teen told the guy "dude, you are ridiculous!" as she dejectedly dropped her poster into the box.

take a good look, because this is the last time you'll ever see these again:

holy moly, were they pissed. they grumbled and raged over it as we had our tickets scanned and finally entered the venue. i was kind of excited to see the various food booths available, which reminded me of being at the fair. hee! and of course, kiis-fm was there, broadcasting live. at the sight of the giant jonas posters, the girls forgot their fury over losing theirs and stopped for another photo op.

realizing that i'd forgotten to bring a jacket, i decided to drop some cash on a concert tee, just in case. shut up. and the teen proudly displayed the tank top she'd worn under her customized shirt.

we made our way up the hill and through the crowds to find our seats. it was funny, we kept saying that we didn't need to rush, because unlike a large number of the attendees, we had actual assigned seats vs. having to stake out a spot on the lawn, which looked like it SUCKED.

but of course, when we got to our row, i found that some lady had planted her ass in one of our seats. she totally glared at me as i informed her that she'd have to move, but i didn't care. i gave her a cheery "thank you!" and settled my own ass in there. hey, grumpy, it's not my fault you didn't buy enough tickets. get the hell out of my spot. what did she expect, anyway? the show was freaking sold out.

the opening act was demi lovato, a cute girl who was the co-star of disney channel's newest movie, "camp rock." she did a great job of performing a few songs from the movie, as well as some of her own. the girls were, of course, torn between cheering for her and hating her guts - because her character ends up being romantically involved with one of the brothers. but it's disney, so "romantically involved" = lots of puppydog eyes, swooning, and hand-holding.

and we couldn't stop laughing at this girl in the row ahead of us, who was apparently less than impressed:

at 8:45, the theater went dark, the screaming began in earnest, and with a flash of fire and fireworks, the boys took the stage. and i'll admit it - i got caught up in the excitement and did plenty of hooting and hollering of my own. hey, they started with my favorite song. yes, i HAVE a favorite song. shut up.

i took some video of the insanity - this was during one of their ballads, and they were halfway through the song when they stopped to listen to the screaming and bask in the adoration of 16,000+ fans.

nutty, ain't it? and here are a few shots - like i said, they're pretty blurry, but i had to get at least a few.

they played till 10:30, and it was a fucking zoo when it was over and the lights came on. there were so many people, it took forever to make our way out of the theater and back out towards the parking lot. and before they took off at a dead run to find their posters, the girls stopped for one last photo op.

um, yeah. here it is - jonas brothers poster purgatory. they all looked alike to me, but the girls were determined to retrieve theirs. i stood back and watched the craziness.

i was half amused and half grossed out by this one:

when they found me, angry and poster-less, they were full of outrage. apparently, there were some impatient ass parents who lost it and told their kids to just pick out a couple of posters so they could get home. BFF said she actually saw a few girls scoop up a handful, exclaim "ooh, look, these are good ones!" and take off with them tucked under their arms. WTF? some great example there, folks. teach your kids that it's okay to just take what's there, whether it's theirs or not, because you're just done with it. and all just so you can get in your car and sit there stopped, waiting to make your way out of the lot. that's fucking brilliant. way to go.

the teen somehow got separated from the other two girls, and as they stood next to me and continued to rage against these thoughtless parents, i saw some girl clutching one of their posters as she continued to riffle through the piles on the ground.

"look! there's some chick taking your poster!" i said to them, as we made our way towards the prize.

and then i stopped and laughed my ass off as i realized that "some girl" was the teen, who had miraculously found her friend's handiwork. hahaha!

they finally gave up, and we somehow found the car and got in. i sat in an unmoving line for a few minutes before i said "fuck it," swung a u-turn, and found an alternate, much less populated exit. we were on the freeway within a few minutes, swung by a drive-thru for some food (we never did get food from the zillion booths at the venue), and happily pulled into the garage two hours after the jonas brothers took their final bow of the night.

I am experiencing mixed emotions. I am elated that you are able to enjoy this stuff with the teen. I am also slightly horrified. Is this normal craziness for teen aged girls only or are boys susceptible?